Nasrin Sotoudeh Arrested

Reports indicate that Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, was arrested on Wednesday, June 13, at her home in Tehran and transferred to Evin Prosecutor's Office. Reza Khandan, Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband, announced this news on his personal Facebook page, stating: "I once told the interrogators in the interrogation room: You only know one thing that a government should do for its country; that is to arrest people." The reason for Nasrin Sotoudeh's arrest is still unknown. Reza Khandan explained in an interview with Radio Farda that this arrest was "completely unexpected." According to her husband, the agents had an arrest warrant that "apparently was issued based on a five-year sentence previously handed down by the Revolutionary Court." Mr. Khandan noted that the agents did not have the court's conviction order with them. Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has previously been arrested on charges of "propaganda against the regime" and other accusations, has consistently criticized the judiciary and recently protested against the announcement of a list of "trusted" lawyers by the head of the judiciary for handling political and security cases. Ms. Sotoudeh emphasized that introducing this list of lawyers "eliminates the half-hearted right of defense for political and security defendants and leaves the accused in an atmosphere filled with fear and without defense in the grip of security institutions." Earlier, in March 2018, during protests by several women and girls against mandatory hijab, which included removing their headscarves in public and hanging them on sticks, Nasrin Sotoudeh acted as the lawyer for Shaparak Shajari, one of the hijab protesters, and warned about the violence against these individuals. Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on September 4, 2010, and was sentenced in a preliminary court to 11 years in prison, 20 years of disqualification from practicing law, and a 20-year travel ban for charges of "acting against national security," "propaganda against the regime," and membership in the Human Rights Defenders Center. This sentence was reduced to 6 years in prison and 10 years of disqualification from practicing law in the appeals court. Ms. Sotoudeh was released after about three years in prison and serving more than half of her sentence on September 18, 2013. After her release, the disciplinary court of lawyers ordered her law license to be revoked for three years in October 2014. In protest against the disqualification ruling, she staged a sit-in in front of the Tehran Bar Association starting on October 21, 2014. During this sit-in, Ms. Sotoudeh was arrested several times along with her husband for hours by intelligence agents, and ultimately on June 27, 2015, the disciplinary court of lawyers reduced her suspension from three years to nine months.